China's Wulala Technology Company has launched a high-tech smart glove that is designed to translate deaf users' sign language gestures into speech and text and vice-versa, allowing them to enjoy better and more convenient communication with people of hearing.
Aptly dubbed the Sign Language Translation Glove, this device works in conjunction with a companion smartphone app. The glove itself is fitted with sensors that keep tabs on the posture of fingers, while an included inertial measurement unit assesses the glove's position and its movement in space, before combining this information to generate the input needed to generate speech or text.
The gesture being made by users wearing the smart gloves is then transferred to their phone via Bluetooth and conveyed through their smartphone app through speech and text. The person with hearing can then speak into the deaf user's mic to have their speech translated into text and animated sign language, to complete the communication relay.
Currently the subject of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the Sign Language Translation Glove can be obtained for a pledge of $704 or an eventual retail price of $3,000.
Sign Language-Translating Gloves
These Smart Gloves Convert Hand Gestures Into Text and Speech
Trend Themes
1. Gesture Translation Technology - Opportunity for creating more high-tech devices and applications that translate nonverbal gestures into text and voice for improved communication.
2. Empowering Individuals with Disabilities - Opportunity for companies to develop more assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities to improve their quality of life and enable them to better communicate with society.
3. Crowdfunding for Assistive Technologies - Opportunity for more companies to use crowdfunding platforms to raise funds for developing more affordable assistive technologies for those with disabilities.
Industry Implications
1. Healthcare and Rehabilitation - The medical industry could benefit from incorporating gesture translation technology to help patients communicate their needs and symptoms.
2. Education - With the ability to translate sign language to text, the education industry can create new technologies and techniques that enable deaf students to better participate in the classroom and develop new successful methods of learning.
3. Technology - The development of this Sign-Language Translation Glove is an example of the potentiality of the tech industry to create more assistive technologies that help individuals with disabilities for more opportunites of market innovation.